Very Cold Monkeys with Knee Socks

Every wonder how the Arctic Monkeys came up with the name for their band? Too bad, I’m going to tell you anyway. So, there is no such thing as an arctic monkey. Apparently humans are the only primates who live that far north. There are, however, colloquially named “snow monkeys” who live in the northern mountains of Japan. These are Japanese macaques, including ones who live in the mountainous area of the main Island near Nagano where they spend a lot of time in the winter in the hot springs there.

Image by Andrew Tan from Pixabay

But that’s still not the arctic. A cute little article in Vice chronicles an attempt to figure this out back in 2018. According to American Songwriter, the band proudly hails from the northern parts of England where “northern monkey” is sort of a slang put down. Basically, they are so northern that they are arctic.

Do they wear knee socks? Well, that’s getting a wee bit personal, isn’t it? All I know is that they did this song called “Knee Socks,” and that’s the song of the day. Why? I don’t know! It just is. Please, hold yourself together, and don’t take things too seriously.

I’d Like to Get to Know You, by Spanky and Our Gang

It’s a lazy Monday for me since it’s one of those Monday holidays, so let’s keep the tone mellow. Mellow Monday—that could become a thing. Let’s power up the time machine and head back to 1968, when I was a year old. I remember growing up hearing this song and it always struck me as both lovely and haunting. I never saw a video of it before until this weekend, so this was the version I knew from the radio and maybe someone’s old 45?

But I like to share live performances when I can, and I thought, surely there was one out there. I found this cute video that was probably on some TV show or other, but I had never heard opening spoken segment until now. Um, and now I don’t know what to think. It’s like someone messed with my childhood. I don’t mean this to be a review, just a reaction. I always knew this song as a romantic, wistful love song, and while music videos often take creative license, I was not expecting this to get . . . corny? Yeah, kinda, but still, it’s cute. The recording reminds me of how much fun producers were having with stereo sound back in the day.

I don’t know anything really about the group Spanky and Our Gang, but maybe I’ll have to dig deeper. You see, I had the song in mind because a recent conversation brought to mind a meeting from many years ago. I was happy to be reminded. I just wasn’t expecting this bit about the slipper . . .